Definitions Flashcards
Differences in personality from one person to another
Individual Differences
Psychological processes that take place within the person
Intrapersonal Functioning
The quality of requiring few assumptions; simplicity
Parsimony
A dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings
Personality
A summary statement, a principle or set of principles about a class of events
Theory
An in depth study of one individual
Case Study
A relationship such that variation in one dimension produces variation in another
Causality (Causal relationship)
An association large enough to have some practical importance
Clinically Significant
A relationship in which two variables or dimensions covary when measured repeatedly
Correlation
A numeric index of the degree of correlation between two variables
Correlation Coeffecient
The variable measured as the outcome of an experiment; the effect in a cause - effect relationship
Dependent Variable
Statistics used to describe or characterize some group
Descriptive Statistics
A method in which people report repeatedly on their current experiences
Experience Sampling
The holding constant of variables that are not being manipulated
Experimental Control
The method in which one variable is manipulated to test for causal influence on another variable
Experimental Method
A study involving a personality factor and an experimental factor
Experimental Personality Research
The degree to which a conclusion applies to many people
Generality (Generalizability)
Relating to an approach that focuses on a particular person across situations
Idiographic
The variable manipulated in an experiment and tested as the cause in a cause - effect relationship
Independent Variable
Statistics used to judge whether a relationship exists between variables
Inferential Statistics
A finding in which the effect of one predictor variable differs depending on the level of another predictor variable
Interaction
A finding in which the effect of one predictor variable is independent of other variables
Main Effect
A study with two (or more) predictor variables
Multifactor Study
The study of the whole person, as opposed to the study of only one aspect of the person
Personology
An association large enough to have practical importance
Practical Significance
The likelihood of an obtained effect occurring when there is no true effect
Statistical Significace
The possibility that an unmeasured variable caused variations in both of two correlated variables
Third Variable Problem
A dimension along which two or more variations exist
Variable
The response set of tending to say “yes” (“agree”) in response to any question
Acquiesence
The measuring of personality
Assessment
The accuracy with which a measure reflects the underlying concept
Construct Validity
The degree to which a measure relates to other characteristics that are conceptually similar to what it’s supposed to assess
Convergent Validity
The developing of a test by seeing which items distinguish between groups
Criterion Keying
The degree to which the measure correlates with a separate criterion reflecting the same concept
Criterion Validity
The degree to which a scale does not measure unintended qualities
Discriminant Validity
The use of data instead of theory to decide what should go into the measure
Empirical Approach (to scale development)
Random influences that are incorporated in measurements
Error
The scale “looks” as if it measures what it’s supposed to measure
Face Validity
Measuring associations between the sense of self and aspects of personality that are implicit (hard to introspect about)
Implicit Assessment
Agreement among responses made to the items of a measure
Internal Reliability (Internal Consistency
The degree of agreement between observers of the same events
Inter - Rater Reliability
A personality test measuring several aspects of personality on distinct subscales
Inventory
A measure that incorporates no interpretation
Objective Measure
An assessment in which someone else produces information about the person being assessed
Observer Ratings
The defining of a concept by the concrete events through which its measured (or manipulated)
Operational Definition
The degree to which the measure predicts other variables it should predict
Predictive Validity
The use of a theory to decide what you want to measure and then deciding how to measure it
Rational Approach (to scale development)
Consistency across repeated measures
Reliability
A biased orientation to answering
Response Set
An assessment in which people make ratings pertaining to themselves
Self Report
The response set of tending to portray oneself favorably
Social Desirability
Assessing internal consistency among responses to items of a measure by splitting the items into halves and then correlating them
Split Half Reliability
A measure incorporating personal interpretation
Subjective Measure
The stability of measurements across time
Test - Retest Reliability
See rational approach
Theoretical Approach
The degree to which a measure actually measures what it’s intended to measure
Validity
The pattern of situation - behavior links the person has established over experiences in some specific domain
Behavioral Signatures
A theory holding that a vulnerability plus stress creates problems in behavior
Diathesis - Stress Model
A person who’s outgoing and prefers social and exciting activities
Extravert
A dimension that underlies a set of interrelated measures, such as items on a self - report inventory
Factor
A statistical procedure used to find basic dimensions underlying a set of measures
Factor Analysis
A correlation between a single measure and the factor in which its being related
Factor Loading
Pertaining to an approach that focuses on an individual person’s uniqueness
Idiographic
The idea that situations and personality interact to determine behavior
Interactionism
Personality patterns deriving from varying levels of dominance and love
Interpersonal Circle
A person who prefers solitary activities
Introvert
An index of the importance of a trait based on the number of words that refer to it
Lexical Criterion
Pertaining to an approach that focused on norms and on variations among persons
Nomothetic
A factor that emerges from a factor analysis performed on a set of previously found factors
Second Order Factor
The idea that situations are the primary determinants of behavior
Situationism
Continuous dimensions of personality on which people vary
Traits
Distinct and discontinuous categories of persons
Types
The projecting of a motive onto an ambiguous external stimulus via imagery
Apperception
The extent to which a task provides information about something
Diagnosticity
A motive assessed indirectly because it’s relatively inaccessible to consciousness
Implicit Motive
The degree to which an action can satisfy a particular need for a person
Incentive
The condition of having more need for power than for affiliation but restraining its use
Inhibited Power Motivation
Cognitive affective clusters organized around readiness for a particular kind of experience
Motive
The dispositional tendency toward a high or low level of some motive
Motive Disposition
An unsatisfactory internal condition that motivates behavior
Need
The need to overcome obstacles and attain goals
Need for Achievement
The need to form and maintain relationships and to be with people
Need for Affiliation
The need for close communication and sharing with someone else
Need for Intimacy
The need to have influence over other people
Need for Power
Study of the entire person
Personology
Any one of a family of tests that uses stories written about pictures to assess motive strength through narrative fantasy
Picture Story Exercise (PSE)
An external stimulus that increases the level of a motive
Press
A motive that’s consciously reported
Self Attributed Motive
A particular method of assessing the strength of a motive through narrative fantasy
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
A study of resemblances between children and their adoptive and biological parents
Adoption Study
Some version of a particular gene
Allele
The temperamental tendency to approach rewards
Approach Temperament
Mating based on the choice of specific characteristics, rather than at random
Assortative Mating
The temperamental tendency to avoid threats
Avoidance Temperament
The study of the inheritance of behavioral qualities
Behavioral Genetics
Testing specific genes because evidence links them to particular biological processes and theory links those processes to personality
Candidate Gene Strategy
Agreement on some characteristic between a twin and a co twin
Concordance
Evolution in which one extreme of a dimension is more adaptive than the other
Directional Selection
Fraternal twins (overlapping genetically 50% on average)
Dizygotic (DZ) Twin
A tendency toward frail thinness
Ectomorphy
The process of putting people randomly into groups of an experiment so their characteristics balance out across groups
Random Assignment
A tendency to be focused, restrained, and planful
Effortful Control
A tendency toward obesity
Endomorphy
An effect that isn’t on DNA but affects DNA functioning and can be inherited
Epigenetic
Activity in which the gene engages in the processes that create a protein
Gene Expression
The idea that people work toward reproducing genes similar to their own
Genetic Similarity Theory
The sequence of the genes contained in the full complement of chromosomes
Genome
Study in which all genes are tested at once
Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS)
See molecular genetics
Genomics
The particular version of a gene that a given person or group has
Genotype
Gene by environment interaction, in which the environment produces different outcomes depending on genetic composition
GxE
An estimate of how much variance of some characteristic is accounted for by inheritance
Heritability
The passing on of genes through the survival of relatives
Inclusive Fitness
A tendency toward muscularity
Mesomorphy
The attachment of methyl chemical groups to a gene or surrounding material
Methylation
The study of how alleles of specific genes relate to other observed differences
Molecular Genetics
Identical twins (overlapping genetically 100%)
Monozygotic (MZ) Twins
An effect of the environment that makes twins differ
Nonshared Environment Effect
The study of how much variance in a characteristic is attributable to genetics versus environment
Quantitative Genetics
The characteristic of having more than one allele for a given gene
Polymorphism
Helping others with the expectation the help will be returned
Reciprocal Altruism
Brothers and sisters
Siblings
The study of the evolutionary basis for social behavior
Sociobiology
Evolution in which intermediate values of a dimension are most adaptive
Stabilizing Selection
Inherited traits that appear early in life
Temperament
A study comparing the similarity between MZ twins against the similarity between DZ twins
Twin Study
Chemicals that mimic the body’s tendency to rebuild muscle tissues
Anabolic Steroids
A person who displays impulsive action which little thought to consequences
Antisocial Personality
The part of the brain that regulates responses to punishment
Avoidance or Withdrawal System
The part of the brain that regulates pursuit of incentives
Behavioral Approach System (BAS)
A neurotransmitter believed to be especially important to approach regulation
Dopamine
A record of overall electrical activity in higher regions of the brain
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to create a picture of activity inside the brain in different mental states
Functional MRI (fMRI)
A substance, low level of which appear to be linked to anxiety disorders
GABA
A trait involving the capacity to inhibit behavior in the service of social adaptation
Impulsive Unsocialized Sensation Seeking (IUSS)
Things that people desire
Incentives
A picture of activity inside the brain based on the brain’s electromagnetic energy
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
A substance that helps regulate several neurotransmitters and seems to be involved in constraint over impulses
Monamine Oxidase (MAO)
A chemical involved in sending messages along nerve pathways
Neurotransmitter
A neuotransmitter that some researchers believe is important in anxiety responses
Norepinephrine
